1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera lamp having an auxiliary lamp assembly for preventing the "red-eye phenomenon" applied to a strobe light emitting component used for flash photography on various cameras.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional camera lamp is shown in FIG. 6, which is a partial cross section of a lamp 2 used as a strobe on a built-in strobe-type single-lens reflex camera. A top cover 1 of the main body of a camera is partially shown in the drawing. Lamp 2 is attached to the front surface of top cover 1 by a pivotal joint or other similar connection (not shown) in such a manner that it can be freely moved up or down as shown by the double headed arrow in FIG. 6. Lamp 2 can be switched between a flash photography ready position when it raised upwardly and a stored position, in which it is lowered into an indentation on the front side of top cover 1. FIG. 6 shows lamp 2 in the stored condition.
A holder 3 that forms the main body of lamp 2 is supported on a shaft (not shown) that allows holder 3 to rotate relative to top cover 1. A strobe cover 4 is affixed to the top side of holder 3 and encases the internal components of lamp 2, which includes a main lamp such as a xenon tube used as a strobe light emitting device with a reflecting umbrella that supports the xenon tube (not shown).
An auxiliary lamp 5 acts as an illumination mechanism that irradiates in advance of the strobe light emission to alleviate the "red eye phenomenon" known to occur in flash photography. Auxiliary lamp 5 is set into and held by a holding socket 6a of lamp case 6, which is fastened by a screw 8 to a partition 3a that is attached to the inside of holder 3.
A reflector 6b that reflects irradiated light from auxiliary lamp 5 is positioned in holding socket 6a of lamp case 6. Lead lines 5a and 5b connect auxiliary lamp 5 with a regulating circuit (not shown) as known.
A transparent protective panel 7 made of light permeable material is positioned as a protector at the front side of auxiliary lamp 5, which is used for the "red eye" alleviation. Transparent protective panel 7 also covers a xenon tube (not shown), which forms the main lamp embodied as a strobe light emitting component. The main lamp is held in the space formed by holder 3 and strobe cover 4. Protective panel 7 contains a lens portion 7a for focusing the irradiated light from auxiliary lamp 5.
With lamp 2 thus constructed, lamp case 6, which holds auxiliary lamp 5 for alleviating the "red eye phenomenon" is attached to holder 3, as described below
Two holes are formed into an attachment piece 6c, which extends from a portion of lamp case 6. One of these holes connects with a protuberance 3b that protrudes from partition 3a of holder 3. Lamp case 6 is affixed to holder 3 by a screw 8 that passes through the other hole into partition 3a.
With prior art lamp 2 constructed as described above, auxiliary lamp 5 is small. As a result, depending on the conditions during photography, the filament of auxiliary lamp 5 may break easily. Hence, it is necessary to make auxiliary lamp 5 easily replaceable so that it may be serviced. To replace auxiliary lamp 5, strobe cover 4 must be removed from lamp 2 to expose holder 3. Then, screw 8 must be unfastened and lamp case 6 removed to gain access to auxiliary lamp 5.
However, strobe cover 4 described above cannot be removed from lamp 2 without being removed from the camera body. Thus, the operations of disassembly and reassembly require extensive labor and time.